Showing @ Traverse Theatre

Along with Modern Art, Contemporary Music is a loose term that elicits strong opinions from critics and supporters alike. Red Note Ensemble an Edinburgh based string septet are clearly in the pro camp and flew the flag at the Traverse Theatre by performing works by three of the best contemporary composers: Gabriel Jackson, Gavin Bryars and John Adams.

Opening with Doonies Hill Antiphon a piece specially composed for the ensemble by Jackson they eased the uninitiated into the world of esoteric music with its rising and falling fiddle tunes reflecting the sense of flight which inspired the piece – Doonie’s Hill being an ex RAF airbase, yet also giving it a strongly Scottish feel with clearly folk inspired melodies.

Bryar’s Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet, was probably the most familiar piece of the evening and the looped recording of the unknown homeless man singing from 1971 like a spirit captured under glass, is even more poignant the further away in time we move. The slow, instrumental build by the septet gave a sense of musical archaeology to the piece adding emotional power with each newly uncovered layer.

Best known for his operas Klinghoffer and Nixon in China, John Adam’s Shaker Loops is a more minimalist piece relishing in the repeated themes and frantic fiddlework to create a feeling of unfettered momentum and tension. It’s a demanding piece to play and so it’s to the musicians credit that they made the exceptional timing required to perform the complex repetitions seem like child’s play.

The playing throughout was excellent, involving and exuberant, this is a group who clearly relish what they do and have the understanding and empathy with the works that allows them to bring out the emotional content inherent in the pieces that mere technical proficiency could never do.

Contemporary music can be challenging, even frustrating at times and how much you enjoy it will always depend on how you apply your imagination to the work, however with performers such as Red Note about it makes the challenge just that little bit easier.